Video Analytics: A Next-Generation Approach to Occupational Safety!
Today, security cameras are found in almost every workplace, factory, construction site, or public area. However, these cameras are generally used only for monitoring or recording purposes. But can these systems truly understand what is happening on the ground? The answer is no. Security cameras only record the areas within their field of view, and it is entirely up to the teams to generate meaningful information from these recordings. Is it possible to be instantly aware of situations occurring in the field that could affect both employee health and safety? This is precisely where video analytics solutions come into play!
Advanced artificial intelligence and image processing technologies in video analysis systems do not just monitor; they also interpret the movements in the field, detect risks beforehand, and enable immediate action. When incidents like fire, arson, or theft occur, traditional security cameras usually become meaningful only through post-incident footage review. However, thanks to video analytics, anomaly detection can be performed based on predefined scenarios (prompts); thus, the system detects threats and issues warnings before the event even fully materializes, enabling immediate intervention and preventive actions to be implemented.
What Exactly is Video Analytics?
AI-powered video analytics is a software that automatically examines video streams from Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) or Internet Protocol (IP) cameras to detect events, recognize objects, and uncover trends. Instead of relying on security personnel to watch screens 24/7, algorithms detect incidents such as unauthorized intrusions, unsafe behaviors, or unusual traffic patterns and alert personnel in real-time.
This software evaluates the behavior, movements, and locations of people or objects in real-time to generate meaningful outputs. For example:
- Loitering Detection: When a person lingers in a specific area for an extended period, exhibiting suspicious behavior.
- Anomaly Detection: When individuals exhibiting what can be described as strange behaviors are detected.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Usage Detection: When a violation of occupational safety rules occurs (e.g., walking without a hard hat).
- Smoke and Fire Detection: When risky situations like smoke, flame, or dense crowds are detected.
Video analysis systems automatically issue warnings or send instant notifications to relevant units.
How Does AI-Powered Video Analytics Work?
- Cameras capture images and send them to an on-site recorder, an edge device, or the cloud.
- The analytics engine converts each frame into searchable metadata: time, location, detected people, vehicles, objects, and movements.
- Rules and machine learning models compare live data against predefined conditions (e.g., a forklift in a pedestrian zone).
- When criteria are met, the system sends instant notifications via on-screen “pop-ups,” text messages, or email so that teams can act quickly.
- Recorded footage is indexed and made searchable by keyword, object, or event, reducing investigation time from hours to seconds.
Video Analytics and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)
This technology offers a groundbreaking transformation in Occupational Health and Safety processes. Accidents that might occur in the field are no longer just recorded; they can be proactively prevented. Here are some use cases:
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Tracking System: Artificial intelligence tracks whether employees are wearing protective equipment such as hard hats, vests, or gloves. The system generates an alarm when missing PPE or equipment is detected.
- Unauthorized Access and Hazardous Area Violation: People entering designated risky areas such as warehouse loading/unloading zones, forklift surroundings, silo and tank perimeters, or high-voltage line areas are instantly detected.
- Fall, Faint, or Immobility Tracking: Such incidents, which are critical for the safety of lone workers, are reported instantly.
- Fire, Smoke, Spark Detection: Systems that react faster than classic fire alarms can detect smoke and fire/spark through color change within seconds, generating immediate alarms.
Integrates with Existing Camera Systems!
The best part is this: video analysis solutions can work integrated with existing CCTV or IP camera systems. This enables current systems to become smart without requiring extra infrastructure investment.
In short, your existing imaging systems are empowered with advanced analysis capabilities, transforming them from a structure that merely monitors the field into one that understands and manages the risks on the ground.
An Intelligent System That Interprets Images and Prevents Risk
Video analytics is not just a security technology; it is also a strategic solution that improves employee health, operational efficiency, and risk management. For organizations seeking to reduce workplace accidents, optimize business processes, and ensure a 24/7 safe work environment, it is no longer an “extra” but a “necessity.”
The future of occupational safety begins today with smart cameras.